Singapore performance
The Vietnamese team finished the group stage of the 2024 ASEAN Cup with the top spot in Group B. Coach Kim Sang-sik and his team's opponent was the second-placed team in Group A - Singapore.
Before the tournament took place, not many people thought that Singapore could get past the group stage, because their group included Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, who were considered to be somewhat stronger.
However, the Lion Island team defeated Cambodia 2-1, Timor Leste 3-0, drew Malaysia 0-0, lost to Thailand 2-4, won 7 points in total and was enough to get a ticket to continue in this year's tournament.
In the opening match, Singapore was somewhat lucky when the Cambodian goalkeeper made a direct mistake that "gave" 2 goals to the home team. After that, they also played unimpressively against Timor Leste, having to wait until the 76th minute to score against the weakest team in the group.
Singapore's 0-0 draw against Malaysia did not say much, as they proactively held their opponents to a draw to ensure a safe score and win a ticket to the next round.
Coach Tsutomu Ogura and his team's best performance was the 2-4 loss to Thailand. They played brilliantly in the first 45 minutes despite facing the defending champions.
Shawal Anuar Faris and Ramli took advantage of the opportunity to score two consecutive goals to open the score, making the "War Elephants" dizzy. In the end, Thailand was still able to turn the game around with 4 goals in the second half to bring home 3 points. This is also a lesson for Singapore's caution before entering the semi-finals.
How strong is Singapore team?
Coach Tsutomu Ogura does not have the strongest squad of Singapore, because he does not have the services of Irfan Fandi, Ikhsan Fandi or Ilhan Fandi... However, the Japanese coach once shared that what he needs is the collective strength of the players, not just a few outstanding players.
Singapore's ASEAN Cup squad has the oldest average age in the tournament, including veteran Shawal Anuar - who scored a super goal against Thailand and is currently leading the scorer list with 4 goals.
Shawal Anuar is only 1m68 tall, not the typical big, tall striker, but possesses impressive speed and skillful technique. This is the "fuse" that the Vietnamese team needs to lock down in the upcoming match.
In addition, their squad also features Ramli, a naturalized Japanese player - Kyoga Nakamura or some "mixed-race" players such as Ryhan Stewart, Jordan Emaviwe, Abdul Rasaq Akeem...
Currently, Singapore's style of play is teamwork, instead of the ability to create breakthroughs like before. In addition, they also calmly deploy their formation and play quite simply despite facing great pressure at some points. That is also Singapore's biggest plus point in the recent journey.
The first leg semi-final between Vietnam and Singapore will take place at Jalan Besar Stadium at 8:00 p.m. on December 26.
